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My First Million6 Hilarious Business Ideas That Could Make You $1,000,000 in 2022 (#351)
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OnlyProblems: turning therapy into entertainment with a subscription model
Shaan pitches a concept that reframes therapy as a fly-on-the-wall entertainment product. Subscribers would listen anonymously to real therapy sessions focused on common life problems, while the person in therapy gets subsidized sessions and therapists get more clients.
- •Shaan argues most people share a small set of core life problems (health, wealth, relationships, happiness, purpose).
- •He claims barriers like taboo, cost, and vulnerability keep many people from seeking therapy.
- •The product concept is a monthly subscription to listen in on therapy sessions matching your problem area.
- •The therapy participant’s cost is subsidized by the listening audience; listeners remain anonymous to the participant.
- •A chat feature lets listeners react among themselves, while the session stays focused on the participant and therapist.
Why they call these “Drunk Ideas” (even though they don’t drink)
They explain the recurring “Drunk Ideas” format: intentionally silly-sounding business ideas that may hide a real business insight. They joke about not drinking, why “bad good” ideas are worth saying out loud, and recall an earlier favorite concept.
- •Shaan defines “bad good” ideas as ideas that sound dumb but contain a valuable nugget.
- •Sam compares it to weird internet businesses that make surprising money.
- •They clarify neither of them drinks, and “drunk” is more of a permission structure to pitch goofy concepts.
- •Sam brings up a prior episode idea: a “Really Long Distance Girlfriend” texting service.
- •They set up the format: pitch ideas to each other and let producer Ben judge at the end.
Hideaway: secret, disguised private camera roll to prevent digital humiliation
Shaan pitches “Hideaway,” a disguised app that hides a private camera and camera roll behind an innocent-looking interface. The core use case is avoiding embarrassment when someone grabs your phone or you’re showing photos and sensitive items appear.
- •Shaan frames the pain as “digital humiliation,” especially around browsers and camera rolls.
- •The app would look harmless (e.g., a bookshelf/reading app or calculator) until a secret tap sequence unlocks it.
- •Once unlocked, it provides a separate camera and private camera roll kept apart from the main photos.
- •He connects the concept to the fantasy of secret doors hidden behind bookcases in movies.
- •The product is positioned as privacy protection when someone else is looking over your shoulder or handling your phone.
Reality check: Photo Vault apps already exist and may be huge businesses
Sam pulls up existing “Photo Vault” apps to show the idea is already real and potentially very lucrative. They discuss how many downloads and reviews such an app has, speculate on conversion rates, and highlight features like decoy passwords.
- •Sam finds an existing Private Photo Vault app with hundreds of thousands of reviews and high App Store ranking.
- •He notes it appears to be run quietly with little public footprint despite large scale.
- •They discuss premium pricing and speculate about conversion rates and revenue potential.
- •Shaan highlights a “decoy password” feature that shows safe images if someone forces access.
- •They riff on how the secrecy and lack of public info is part of the product’s appeal.
Santa’s Club: virtual Santa visits as a seasonal cash machine
Sam shares Santa’s Club, a business selling short virtual sessions with Santa during the holidays. They react to the numbers, discuss how it sells out, and brainstorm adjacent character-based expansions.
- •Sam describes Santa’s Club as operating only part of the year while generating significant sales per customer.
- •The offering is a 10–15 minute virtual Santa experience for kids/families, sold in a limited capacity model.
- •They react to the apparent demand and the site being sold out, implying a need to recruit more Santas.
- •They brainstorm extending to other characters like Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Cupid.
- •Shaan suggests a Cameo-like approach and talks through how recorded messages could be produced at scale.
From police scanners to inner battles: the setup for “OnlyProblems”
Shaan explains how curiosity-driven products like police scanner apps and neighborhood-alert apps led him to the idea of watching problems from a safe distance. The conversation frames why people consume other people’s chaos and how that could apply to therapy.
- •Shaan references Sam’s interest in a police scanner app and the curiosity/“train wreck” appeal.
- •Sam mentions using an alerts app but quitting because it made everything feel unsafe and overwhelming.
- •Shaan reframes the idea: instead of crime and external chaos, focus on internal problems people share.
- •They discuss how people already consume reality-TV-like content for distraction and entertainment.
- •This becomes the bridge to making therapy sessions consumable content.
OnlyProblems reactions: Fight Club support groups, “gratitude as a service,” and incentive issues
They explore why the idea might be compelling to viewers, comparing it to support groups and other voyeuristic content. They also discuss the strange incentives created when people can earn money by sharing vulnerability.
- •Sam compares it to Fight Club’s support-group dynamic where seeing others’ suffering feels therapeutic.
- •Shaan jokes about the concept as “gratitude as a service” and “could be worse” reassurance.
- •They discuss how higher vulnerability or crazier problems could attract more tips and revenue share.
- •Shaan likens the entertainment side to Jerry Springer-style fascination with messy situations.
- •Sam connects it to watching surgery and niche fascination content like pimple-popping communities.
Sam’s r/popping story: documenting his surgery for internet attention
Sam tells a personal story about asking a surgeon to photograph a medical procedure so he could post it to an online community. The story reinforces the broader theme that people will watch intense, graphic, or private experiences as content.
- •Sam describes having a surgery and requesting photos during the procedure for posting online.
- •He says the post got significant attention, validating how compelling “real” footage can be.
- •They describe the fascination with medical or bodily content and how it spreads online.
- •The anecdote supports the idea that people seek “behind-the-scenes” views of intense experiences.
- •They circle back to agreement that OnlyProblems could work as a concept.
SlideShare as a neglected traffic monster: buy it and monetize it for B2B lead gen
Sam proposes that SlideShare is a massive, under-monetized site with huge monthly traffic and minimal product investment. He argues it could be turned into a high-performing B2B lead generation and advertising machine.
- •Sam claims SlideShare gets enormous monthly visits and contains lots of business decks and strategy content.
- •He suggests it appears minimally maintained, implying a small team and a neglected asset.
- •The pitch: a B2B company could buy it and turn it into a lead gen platform for high-value audiences.
- •He argues UGC sites with critical mass become hard to stop once they reach scale.
- •They discuss LinkedIn owning it, doing little with it, and later selling it to Scribd.
Instagramahanas: a restaurant designed for content, not cuisine
Shaan pitches a restaurant experience engineered to generate photos and videos rather than deliver great food. The concept combines a Benihana-style shared-table format with over-the-top, camera-ready food reveals and automated content capture.
- •Shaan describes it as “Benihanas for photo opportunities,” explicitly content-first.
- •The menu concept is “photo-worthy” items (huge, weird, indulgent, funny) served as reveals like omakase.
- •A drone camera records reactions over the table; edited highlights are delivered to customers afterward.
- •He proposes a party atmosphere (DJ, group seating, multiple turns per night) and premium per-person pricing.
- •He argues food costs could be lower because taste and protein-heavy dishes are less important than spectacle.
Proof points and patterns: Benihana efficiency, Museum of Ice Cream, and food-shape hacks
They compare Instagramahanas to existing “experience” businesses and viral food concepts. The discussion focuses on the repeatable pattern: make food weird in shape, size, color, container, or by mashing concepts together.
- •Sam shares background about Benihana and why the format works as a business model.
- •They discuss “experience-first” attractions like the Museum of Ice Cream and its persistent lines in Manhattan.
- •Shaan notes some viral food businesses succeed even when the product quality isn’t great.
- •Sam describes the pattern behind viral foods: unusual shapes, sizes, colors, containers, or mashups.
- •They riff on examples and the broader idea that spectacle can drive demand.
Swag School: a boot camp to teach awkward guys dating “game”
Shaan pitches “Swag School,” inspired by Indian Matchmaker and his own awkwardness, as an in-person seminar/peer group to teach social and dating skills. Sam connects it to an existing men’s charm boot camp that reportedly generated significant revenue.
- •Shaan describes the premise: many otherwise successful guys struggle with basic dating smoothness.
- •He shares personal examples of not knowing small etiquette or physical-confidence behaviors in dating.
- •He proposes a group format like Toastmasters/AA with guided practice and coaching, including how to initiate touch and presence.
- •Sam brings up a men’s charm boot camp concept and says he knew someone who credited it with changing his life.
- •They agree the concept could work and treat it as a validated “drunk idea.”
Wrap-up: YouTube comments, scammy replies, and Ben picks winners and losers
They close by inviting feedback primarily through YouTube comments and discuss common scam patterns in comment sections. Producer Ben then names the best idea, the worst idea, and a humorous honorable mention.
- •Shaan asks listeners to leave feedback in YouTube comments, saying he’s reading and replying there.
- •They complain about impersonator accounts pushing WhatsApp groups and about recurring “Forex/crypto mentor” spam comments.
- •They joke about needing a “look” for YouTube presence and the strange ecosystem of comments.
- •Producer Ben selects OnlyFans for Therapy/OnlyProblems as the best idea, saying it’s both funny and watchable.
- •Producer Ben calls Instagramahanas the worst idea and jokes that Sam should have pitched Swag School for honorable mention.
